CHARGERS: Last-minute drive halted by Lewis' fourth-down stop

They narrowly escaped with a win over Oakland, then officiallylost their defensive backbone and a pair of offensive Pro Bowlersto injuries leading up to Sunday's home opener against a Baltimore
Ravens team physical on both sides of the run.

Yet there these Chargers were, without nose tackle JamalWilliams and center Nick Hardwick and running back LaDainian
Tomlinson, needing a touchdown drive to survive another scare. Theyhad done it against the Raiders on Monday with the same personnel,stealing a victory with a two-minute drill that Dan Fouts wouldhave been proud of.

But there would be no repeat performance. Not on this day.

The heroics came to a halt on fourth down ---- with the Chargers2 yards from a first down, 15 from the end zone and with 37 secondsremaining. Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis shot through the backsidegap and stopped ball-carrier Darren Sproles dead in his tracks.

The play was pure improvisation, a calculated gamble by a savvyAll-Pro that punctuated Baltimore's 31-26 victory in front of66,882 at Qualcomm Stadium and handed the Chargers their fifth lossin the last nine home games.

"Any time you're in a game where you put forth a lot of effortand play decent enough to be in it, a loss is pretty tough totake," Chargers right tackle Jeromey Clary said. "We were movingdown the field and needed 15 more yards to win the game. We justcouldn't get the job done, and that's disappointing."

The simple thing would be to chalk up the loss to a great play
by a great player. But the Chargers missed several other
opportunities, especially in the red zone. They made five trips
inside the Baltimore 20-yard line, and left with four field
goals.

"Getting into the red zone and kicking field goals ---- that'snot us," Chargers tight end Antonio Gates said. "We're aboutscoring touchdowns. ... We're a much better red-zone team than weshowed today. But that's what happens when you keep settling forfield goals. You come up a little short."

The Ravens, on the other hand, scored touchdowns on three of
four trips inside the red zone.

The Chargers' results were contrary to their reputation of
success inside the opponent's 20. They scored on 56 percent of last
year's red-zone opportunities, which have long been a point of
emphasis for this team.

Former Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer used to call it the
gold zone, because that's where you make your money. On Sunday, the
red zone meant stop.

The Chargers were hindered by penalties, pressure from theRavens and inexperience up front. Scott Mruczkowski made his firstprofessional start at center due to Hardwick's sprained ankle, andBrandyn Dombrowski did the same at right guard as a fill-in forLouis Vasquez, who missed the game with a sprained knee.

"They thought we have a (first-year player) at right guard, wehave a center that hasn't played a lot of center, and they wantedto give us some different looks and at times they were effective,"Chargers coach Norv Turner said. "At others, we made some plays totake advantage of it."

Outside the red zone, the Chargers moved the ball almost at willusing Philip Rivers' arm. The Chargers quarterback set a careermark with 436 passing yards and had a pair of long touchdownstrikes.

The first went to Sproles, who ran 81 yards and juked a pair ofRavens en route to the end zone. The second went to receiverVincent Jackson, who corralled a 38-yard TD catch in the thirdquarter. It was the highlight of an excellent performance byJackson, who had six receptions for 141 yards and at times couldnot be stopped.

The running game suffered without Tomlinson, who missed the game
with a sprained ankle. The Chargers had 53 yards on 21 carries and
struggled to run in the red zone, an area where Tomlinson
thrives.

The Chargers' defense struggled early in their first game
without Jamal Williams, who's out for the season with a triceps
injury. The Ravens (2-0) had 130 yards rushing, 84 of which came
before halftime.

The defense stiffened as the game wore on and finished withthree solid stops ---- on an interception by Antoine Cason, athree-and-out and a Ravens' field goal after Rivers' secondinterception of the game left Baltimore 13 yards from the endzone.

"It's not about coming up in the clutch," outside linebackerShaun Phillips said. "It's about playing four quarters of excellentdefense. It doesn't matter whether we're playing through adversityor we have everyone available. Everyone has to perform on everydown."

While the Chargers performed well at times, they didn't perform
well when they had to execute. That fact, even more than Lewis
final play, dropped the Chargers to 1-1 in this fledgling
season.

"I don't think we can win until we start converting in the red
zone," Gates said. "That's a big part of our team, and that was a
key element today. We know we can throw the ball up and down the
field, but leaving the red zone without scoring touchdowns came
back to haunt us."